Prisoners in 1980 - Bureau of Justice Statistics

u.s. Department of Justice

Bureau of Justice Statistics

/VlF-/

During 1980 more than 15,000 inmates were added to the rolls of the Nation's correctional institutions, continuing an upward trend stretching bacK for more than a decade.! As correctional authorities coped with a record yearend total of 329,122 inmates, 28 States and the District of Columbia were under court orders to

reduce overcrowding, and 16 States had

a backlog of sentenced prisoners waitf" ing in local jails for space in State ',j facilities. The 1980 increase in the

u- prisoner population was 5 percent, more

than double the increases of the two

I

With this report the Bureau of Justice Statistics introduces Bulletin readers to statistics from the National Prisoner Statistics (N PS) program. NPS series, which are among the oldest in the criminal

justice field, contain annual data on the prison populations, prison admis-

sions and releases, characteristics of the death row population, and executions.

:Vlay 1981

These data are collected annually for the Bureau of Justice Statistics by the U.S. Census l~ureau from the departments of corrections in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. The cooperation of State officials, whose generous assistance and unfailing pa tience llluke the National Prisoner Statistics program possible, is gratefully acknowledged.

l3enjalllin fI. Renshaw III Acting Director

previous years. Since the uptrend

began in 1969, the number of prisoners held in the United States has increased by 61 percent, and the incarceration rate for sentenced prisoners has gone from 98 per 100,000 U.S. resident population to 140 per 100,000.

The 1980 gain in prison popUlation was limited to State facilities. The number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of Federal authorities fell by almost 8 percent to 24,363, continuing H. decline begun in 1978 that has reduded

large part from a decision by Federal law enforcement uuthorities to concentrate their resources on whi tecollar crime, leaving the apprehension, pr'osecution, and confinement of bank robbers, interstate auto thieves, and

the Federal prison population by

certain drug offenders to State and

lUata in ttlis reIJ,;rt arp prdilllInar:v ;Hld "'l.lhj?,~l?t to

one-fourth in 3 years. It results in

local authori ties.

reVbwn.

}Iany factors in the speeding up of

prison population growth during 1980

Number of sentenced State and Federal prisoners at yearend, 1925-80

are peculiar to individual States. Sentencing legislation passed on a

'.

widespread basis in recent years

(thousunds)

appears, however, to oe exerting

pressure on the capacities of State

:!tiO

prison systems. During the past

330

4 years, 37 States have passed man-

:wo

datory sentencing statutes and 15

270

States have passed determinate

~~U

sentencing laws. While determinate

210

sentencing allows for the possibility of

180

probation, restitution, or suspended

1;0

sentences, and mandatory sentencing

i'lO

does not, each sends the offender to

~O

prison for a fixed number of years that

tlU

cannot be shortened by parole.

30

0 1925

193()

l!nn

In most States mandatory and determinate sentencing has been aimed at

~ote: Prior to 1!:J79) NPS reports WerE' tnl'lied on thf~ custody population. Heginrung in una, fop us it.; on

Ow JurhfhetlOn popuhttfcm. Hotn l\~ures 'i~e ~tl'}wn f"r IH;7 trJ f;j{?lht;lt ................
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